Thread: ICE raids plant in Laurel, Mississippi

27 August 2008
Howard Industries: For McCain A Question, For ALIPAC Applause
[Patrick Cleburne] @ 8:41 pm [Email author] [Email This Article] Print This Post
Mr. and Mrs. Billy Howard, respectively CEO and President of Howard Industries, are a working couple who know how to get things done. Married two years after Billy founded the firm, they have built up a company in the difficult field of manufacturing which according to Wikipedia has a net worth of nearly $1 billion.( Howards building businesses with ‘windows of opportunity’ By Jeter, Lynne Wilbanks The Mississippi Business Journal Monday, June 12 2000 ) Now they hold the distinction of providing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with its biggest ever catch on an enforcement raid (U.S. immigration cops nab 595 in largest-ever raid Reuters Tuesday Aug 26th 200.



So it is instructive to see how they deploy themselves politically.

Answer: Mrs. Howard is a maxed-out donor to John McCain. (Her husband made no Presidential donations)

Question: Will anyone in the MSM ask McCain to comment on the Howard Industries scandal, and whether he thinks his former Amnesty enthusiasm had any connection with Howard’s support?

Meantime, turning to that section of the media which actually does its job, VDARE.com congratulates our old friend William Gheen’s operation ALIPAC on a tremendous related scoop. Their discussion thread on the Howard raid was joined by a worker in the plant using the name ICEFAN, who at last count has posted 23 illuminating items (starting on Page 2), including footage and some acidic comment:

[b]Yeah, I work at Howard Ind. and ICE finally came!!! It was awesome. Helicopter, hundreds of agents, made my day.

I.C.E. finally enforces our immigratin laws at Howard Ind. in Laurel, MS Not sure really of the exact numbers working at Howard’s but it is well over a thousand for sure. All I can say is it is about time…Couldn’t have come at a better time as the Company was about to break it off in us. We are currently renegotiating our contract with the company and with all the non-union illegal aliens that WERE working here we didn’t have much of a foot to stand on. WE DO NOW!!!!…
I believe Mr. Humberto Gonzales (personal director, go figure) will probably end up being the patsy when all this is said and done. I’m sure the Howard’s will be saying, “What? You mean they’re all illegal? We never would have hired them if we had known that!â€

Thanks for the pics ICEFAN! It's a beautiful sight - will be even better when Americans are hired to fill those jobs.

Have you talked to anyone on other shifts as to whether they are 'missing' any employees on their shift?

Originally Posted by florgal

Thanks for the pics ICEFAN! It's a beautiful sight - will be even better when Americans are hired to fill those jobs.

Have you talked to anyone on other shifts as to whether they are 'missing' any employees on their shift?

Many Americans have already been hired. I'm extremely pleased to say. I spoke with a group of 10 or 11 new hires and asked them if they had tried to get hired down here before the raid. Over half said that they had tried off and on for months and a few said they had tried for a few years and were played the old song and dance routine of "WE'RE NOT HIRING" Well, that is just not true! I have seen hundreds of Hispanics (with a smattering of Americans, hardly enough to mention) walked into this plant on a very regular basis for years now. It really became commonplace right after Katrina devastated the coast and it hasn't slacked up once since then, till NOW!! (You would have thought that those that lost everything including their jobs in the devastation of Katrina would have loved to fill these positions if only the opportunity had been presented to them!!) This place was booming after Katrina as you can imagine.

The "other" employees on the other shifts started coming back to work this morning. They were missed by the raid.

The "other" employees on the other shifts started coming back to work this morning. They were missed by the raid.

Unbelievable that they had the gall to even show up!

August 28, 2008


Stolen IDs found in raid, Feds say

Eight suspected illegal immigrants accused of using identities to gain employment

From staff and wire reports

Eight detainees from Monday's immigration raid on Howard Industries in Laurel used stolen identities, including one of a dead person, to gain employment, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

The eight appeared in U.S. District Court for a preliminary and detention hearing.

Prosecutors displayed as proof fraudulent resident alien cards, Social Security cards along with Howard Industries employment verification forms.

U.S. Magistrate Mike Parker ordered all held without bond because they could "assume another identity (and) easily flee."

If convicted of aggravated identity theft, each could face up to two years in prison or a $250,000 fine or both.

Ben Taylor, an agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, testified the eight were identified when agents compared names of Howard Industries' employees with a compiled list of stolen identities.

Public Defender Abby Brumley requested detainee Paula Gomez be freed on bond to care for her sick, 5-year-old son, Brumley said.

"Her situation is different," Brumley said, because there was no one else to care for her son.

Gomez had worked at Howard Industries for three years under the alias Leonor Garcia, prosecutors said.

"She has been charged with a serious crime. We need to keep this defendant until the charges are resolved," Assistant U.S. Attorney Gaines Cleveland said.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Stan Harris said there could be more identity theft cases after the remaining detainees are interviewed by ICE officials.

Of 595 detained workers, at least 475 detainees were sent to a federal detention center in Jena, La., where they are awaiting a hearing before an immigration judge. About 100 were released for humanitarian reasons.

Monday's raid - the biggest in the nation's history - began with a tip from a union member three years ago.

Union members said they resented immigrants, whom they said were often allowed to work as much as 40 hours of overtime a week when other workers were discouraged from doing so.

Howard Industries, which makes dozens of products from electrical transformers to medical supplies, is in Mississippi's Pine Belt region, an area known for commercial timber and chicken-processing plants.

Robert Shaffer, head of the Mississippi AFL-CIO, said Wednesday that members have long complained that companies in southern Mississippi hire illegal immigrants.

"Jackson, Hattiesburg, Laurel and all areas along the Coast, it's a little Mexico," Shaffer said.

In 2002, Mississippi lawmakers approved a $31.5 million, taxpayer-backed incentive plan for Howard Industries to expand. The company, with 4,000 workers, is the largest employer in Jones County, which includes Laurel.

About 2,600 of Howard Industries' workers are in the union. Shaffer said he did not know whether any of those detained in the raid were union members, or if nonunion workers were offered overtime while union workers were not.

Those detained are from Brazil, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama and Peru.

On Wednesday, Howard Industries referred reporters to the statement it issued Monday. The statement said the company "runs every check allowed to ascertain the immigration status of all applicants for its jobs. It is company policy that it hires only U.S. citizens and legal immigrants."

No executives were detained in Monday's raid, but a spokeswoman said the raid was just the first part of an ongoing investigation.

The unemployment rate in Jones County was 6.5 percent in July, slightly higher than the national rate of 6 percent but below the state's 8.5 percent rate.

William Gunther, an economics professor at the University of Southern Mississippi, said Mississippi has a labor shortage.

"That leaves businesses with a serious problem," he said. "That doesn't justify, but it certainly explains why they might be hiring individuals who show up and say, 'I'll work for you.' "

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http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs. ... /1001/news

WELCOME Protocol:

GREAT POST! and THANK YOU FOR JOINING OUR GROUP!

Originally Posted by Ex_OC

Originally Posted by SicNTiredInSoCal

Just called them, told them to keep up the good work and thanks! Took less than a minute!

THANK YOU, SIC!

Come you guys, what are you waiting for??? Call ICE and thank them! They're doing what we want them to do, right? CALL!

Phone: 202-305-2734

DONE!!!!! And they were very nice this time!

CALLED ICE; SO NICE THAT ICE!

i called and said thanks and told her where the number was posted.
she said that she had wondered why so many phone calls were coming in all of a sudden.
I asked about a report in one of the postings on here that ICE was still in the Laurel, Ms., area and she said probably. and i made mention of the post about those who didnt get caught in the raids had apparently came back to work today and maybe another follow up should take place.

My last comment was "you made our week"

Originally Posted by ICEFAN

Originally Posted by Gogo

Originally Posted by NoBueno

just heard 5 seconds ago that the number of illegal aliens apprehended tally has reached 600 which according to the local news anchor makes this the largest operation of it's kind to date

WOW!!!

WOW is right. ICEFAN, can you get pics of the lines of Americans lining up for the jobs. Let's send them to good old McCain and Obama. Let's put it on Youtube.

Whoo Hoo

Here's a few pictures of American job seekers from this morning at around
6:15. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take a photo at 8:00 am. A friend said that there were at least 200 new American applicants lined up!!! Hopefully, I'll be able to post a similar photo soon. Way to go I.C.E. thanks for making some jobs available for native Mississippians!!!

AWESOME JOB ICEFAN copying image for my archives.